Newsletter

Posted December 6, 2008 01:18 am - Updated April 20, 2010 06:00 pm

Cut Taxes, Not Achievement

It has been disheartening to watch the Democratic senators again ridiculing, belittling, and chastising the Big Three automotive executives.The hearings were once more reminiscent of the Stalinist show trials of post-Tsarist Russia.

The Big Three are asking for government bailout loans because they are afraid to ask for what would really help them, significantly reduced taxes and regulations.The Big Three have reasons to fear because their future lies in the hands of elected clowns, most of whom know little or nothing about economics, hard work, striving for excellence, high achievement, and taking great risks.Sadly, most in Congress have reelection as their primary goal and the financial and military strength of the United States a distant second.

Permanent tax and regulatory reductions would be best for the Big Three and for We the People.Businesses and investors are most likely to invest money when they can foresee a long predictable future in which politicians will not raise their taxes or impose new punishing regulations.

The citizens do not want their tax dollars spent to subsidize the mistakes of others.The voters are opposing government bailouts by a margin of 2 to 1.Tax cuts remain the best economic and political solutions.

President-elect Obama could quickly turn around our economy by announcing that he will request no tax increases and will cut personal and corporate taxes across the board.Only those who hate hard work and are jealous of those who strive for achievement would be unhappy with more tax cuts.

We want solutions to the economic problems.Unemployment is up to 6.7% and November experienced the largest unemployment rise for any month since 1974.It is time for Congress to act responsibly and for President-elect Obama to jump in and assure tax cuts with regulatory cuts to follow.

Would it not be better for our domestic automobile industry to survive without a bailout?Getting our government out of the way would be a great benefit for the Big Three automakers, all businesses, and all of us.Our government has been our major economic problem and is now mistakenly looked upon as the necessary savior.Giving bailouts paid for with taxpayer and borrowed money erodes trust in the United States both at home and abroad.

It would be logical and desirable for our Federal government to concentrate on protecting us and to abandon its efforts to micromanage our economy and our lives.Federal social engineering, health care and education interference, and our government purchasing and guaranteeing bad loans and bad business practices have damaged our economy and are robbing us of our money and our liberty.

A large corporate tax cut, or the complete elimination of corporate taxes, would help the automobile manufacturers and all domestic corporations.Such tax cuts would attract new business investments and prevent corporations and investment capital from seeking more friendly business environments overseas.

Bailout funds come from tax revenues and borrowed money that has been run through the Washington bureaucracy.As much as 70% of our tax money and deficit spending money ends up lining the pockets of bureaucrats, politicians, and their political cronies.Cutting taxes would allow those who make the money to keep it without passing it through the government bureaucracies.

Our current onerous corporate tax rate, second only to Japan, keeps corporate operating costs high, consumer product costs high, and significantly reduces US competitiveness.The fact that elected members of the United States Congress try to reduce the vigor and profitability of domestic businesses is at best nothing short of national economic suicide.

In a free market, the consumer dictates what cars and trucks an automotive manufacturer produces.Vehicles are made to appeal to the tastes, needs, and desires of the consumer.We the consumers want big SUVs and light trucks because such vehicles allow us the option of carrying large loads and offer us significant crash protection.

If the reader has any doubt as to what consumers want to buy, compare the number of SUVs and light trucks on our roads to the number of traditional automobiles.As an added bonus, check out the parking lots at a nearby university or college.Hardworking families send their children off to school in large safe vehicles, as their primary goal in buying a vehicle is the safety of their family members.

A major problem for the automotive manufacturers and the consumers is the $700 billion of oil we purchase each year from other countries.Democrats have perpetually blocked new drilling in areas where our large oil reserves are located, so the problem continues to intensify.We the People are smart enough to realize there are no viable substitutes for oil at present and nothing that can replace our use of oil in the next ten years.

The citizens on both sides of the political aisle want massive new drilling to be a part of the solution to our chronic domestic energy shortage.With almost 3 trillion barrels of known oil reserves in the United States, we have more oil than we will ever use.We can easily drill and dig our way out of foreign oil dependence.We can do it quite rapidly if we put our minds and will to the matter.

The free market can develop other energy resources to compete with and eventually replace our use of oil.Our politicians and bureaucrats should not be the primary decision makers on what sources of energy should be used and which should not.Our nation went from sailboats to steamships and from horses and buggies to automobiles with no government interventions.

Our government can greatly help the automotive industry by cutting the onerous CAFE standards. The automobile manufacturers invest massive amounts of money in order to bring their vehicles sold in the United States in line with the CAFE standards.They are forced to produce small lightweight cars that most people do not want to purchase.

Our government should not push the Big Three to invest in the development of electric cars and other vehicles few want to purchase.There are sufficient electric power brownouts now without adding large numbers of vehicles dependent on electricity.Until we have many new electricity generating plants (preferably nuclear) on line, we should not be pushing electric cars.Washington has already told us we must use mercury filled fluorescent light bulbs.Will the Elites in Washington next tell us that air conditioning will be rationed or even off limits to We the People?

We have no shortage of oil or other energy sources in the United States.We also have no shortage of those willing to work, invent, invest, and take risks in the pursuit of achievement so long as they are not too severely punished for their efforts.What we do have is a shortage of common sense and integrity in our elected and appointed officials.